Our people have renewed our mandate, but they have also sent a message that they don't like some of the things that we are doing in the province.

— Panyaza Lesufi, Gauteng deputy chairperson - ANC

If you look 250 000 people in Gauteng who voted for the ANC nationally, didn't vote for the ANC provincially, that means that there are things they feel we are not doing right.

— Panyaza Lesufi, Gauteng deputy chairperson - ANC

We have learnt the lesson, and we need to pick it up and deal with it. If you look at wards in Johannesburg, we managed to win back eight of them. We are not resting on our laurels. South Africans have sent a strong message to the ANC, adapt or perish.

— Panyaza Lesufi, Gauteng deputy chairperson - ANC

He adds that South Africans felt that the party needed a loud wake-up call.

He believes David Makhura should stay on as premier as the ANC needs to hit the ground running.

If we have to go and reconfigure the vehicle, South Africans don't want that - they want us to push and push faster.

— Panyaza Lesufi, Gauteng deputy chairperson - ANC

Lesufi comments on whether he intends getting rid of Afrikaans schools in Gauteng.

Our approach is simple, you can't have children celebrate a birthday party together, but they are not allowed to attend the same classroom because they don't speak the same language.

— Panyaza Lesufi, Gauteng deputy chairperson - ANC

If our children can play together, they can study together. We are saying if an Afrikaans school is full and fully utilised, why tamper with it? People have a right to be taught in their language.

— Panyaza Lesufi, Gauteng deputy chairperson - ANC

Where we differ is when an Afrikaans school isn't fully utilised, and you are converting classrooms into catering or dance classes. You must remember non-racialism is non-negotiable and its foundation must be within classrooms.